Claire Lundberg and Matthew Yglesias have two excellent articles about the limits of family-friendly policies. Sometimes these programs are so expensive, that employers simply do not employ women.

Last week, Mary Ann Mason in the New York Times talked about her research on the dismal outcomes for women in academia. She said that family-friendly policies, like  “paid family leave for both mothers and fathers, a flexible workplace, a re-entry policy, pay equity reviews, childcare and dual-career assistance — would help to level the playing field.”

Judging from my experience and the experience of my female academic friends, those policies only help some. They help those who have secured the jobs. They don’t help those who can’t find a job in the first place or can’t find a job in the same cities as their spouse. I have several friends (mostly women, but there is one guy, too) who have walked away from tenure-track jobs, because their spouses and children lived several states away.

So, what’s the solution? Matt says the answer is to not make employers responsible for paying for childcare or maternity leave, but that the federal government should assume that responsibility. That makes sense.